It features three uncapped players - Andrew Conway, Niall Scannell & Rory Scannell.

Jonathan Sexton and Sean O'Brien have also been included despite their recent injury concerns with Leinster, but there's no place for Ian Madigan.

Luke McGrath and Kieran Marmion will provide the cover for Conor Murray at scrum half, while on the wing Tommy Bowe is back in the squad after missing the autumn internationals.

In the forward there are five more players who have just the one cap to their name so far.

They are Jack Conan, Billy Holland, Dan Leavy, John Ryan and James Treacy.

But the greatest competition will arguably come on the flanks, where O'Brien, Van Der Flier, O'Mahony, Stander, O'Donnell and Henderson are all contenders for a starting berth.

The squad will cover Ireland's first two games of the competition, which feature away ties against Scotland and Italy.

"It has been good to watch the players over the past two months and great to see many of them doing so well," head coach Joe Schmidt said.

“As always there were some difficult decisions but we feel that the group is a good mix with a number of key players having good experience and a number of newer players having gained valuable experience and confidence during the summer tour to South Africa and the recent Guinness Series."

Ireland Squad 2017 RBS 6 Nations Nations Championship 2017 - Rounds 1 &2

Forwards (22)

Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht) 6 caps

Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (c) 100 caps

Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 1 cap

Ultan Dillane (Corinthians/Connacht) 8 caps

Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster) 11 caps

Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 62 caps

Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster) (vc) 91 caps

Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 28 caps

Billy Holland (Cork Constitution/Munster) 1 cap

Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 17 caps

Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 1 cap

Jack McGrath (St. Mary's College/Leinster) 36 caps

Sean O'Brien (UCD/Leinster) 44 caps

Tommy O'Donnell (UL Bohemians/Munster) 12 caps

Peter O'Mahony (Cork Con/Munster) 37 caps

Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster) 43 caps

John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 1 cap

Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) *

CJ Stander (Munster) 10 caps

Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 42 caps

James Tracy (UCD/Leinster) 1 cap

Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 5 caps

Backs (18)

Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 67 caps

Andrew Conway (Munster) *

Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 54 caps

Craig Gilroy (Bangor/Ulster) 9 caps

Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster) 24 caps

Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster) 19 caps

Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster) 72 caps

Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 9 caps

Luke Marshall (Ballymena/Ulster) 9 caps

Stuart McCloskey (Ballynahinch/Ulster) 1 cap

Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 1 cap

Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster) 53 caps

Tiernan O'Halloran (Buccaneers/Connacht) 3 caps

Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 3 caps

Rory Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) *

Jonathan Sexton (St Mary's College/Leinster) 63 caps

Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster) 69 caps

Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster) 28 caps